Chapter 2

A deathly silence fell over the altar.

Alonso silently stood rooted to the ground, his eyes filled with pain and struggle.

I could hear the guests gasping in their seats in the distance.

Silver daggers were every werewolf's biggest fear. If one were to be injured by a silver dagger, their wound would never heal, and their wolf may even suffer lifelong disabilities.

When I got pierced in the stomach by the silver dagger, I hadn't just lost the ability to transform forever. I had also lost the ability to carry pups anymore. And in the wolf kingdom, an Omega with such a disability was as good as trash.

"That had been an accident," Alonso finally said, finding his voice, yet it was so weak that whatever he said seemed just like an excuse.

"You got hurt because you were saving my life. I know that. I always knew that…"

"So what if you knew that?" I asked, laughing in desolation. "You then bred another she-wolf, and you're now planning to leave me during the marking ceremony I had been waiting for ten years?

"What kind of wolf do you think I am, Alonso? Am I just a prostitute at your beck and call?"

Alonso took a step backward as if he couldn't withstand the weight of my words anymore.

"I… I will make it up to you," he said with much difficulty. "When Hailey's condition stabilizes, we'll pick another date—"

"There won't be a next time," I said with a shake of my head, tears blurring my vision. "Just leave, Alonso Austin. But remember the choice that you made today."

Alonso only froze in his spot for a while. Then, he turned and left after saying in a hurried tone, "I'll make it up to you."

He never looked back after that, leaving me alone in the center of the altar as I looked up toward the moonlight.

"Did you hear that, Moon Goddess?" I asked in my head. "The oathbreaker has appeared."

Thus, the curse would descend very soon.

A sharp, excruciating pain suddenly burst forth in my heart, as if something was tearing me apart from within. I looked down and saw fine, silver patterns beginning to appear beneath the skin on my hands.

This was the sign of my wolf spirit declining—the Wilting Wolf syndrome.

My vision began to blur, and I could hear cries of alarm ringing in my ears. Someone kept calling out to me.

When I finally fell to the ground, the last thing I saw was the panicked eyes of my best friend, Lucy Hallworth, the healer of the pack.

…

Three days later, I finally woke up in the infirmary.

"You're up?"

Lucy's voice floated into my ears from my side. I wanted to speak, but I ended up violently coughing my lungs out instead.

Something warm flowed out from the corners of my mouth, and I wiped it away with my hands, noticing the silverish liquid staining my fingertips.

When the Moon Goddess cursed a werewolf, their blood would discolor, turning from red to this eerie, mysterious silver color.

"Don't move," Lucy said, pushing me back onto the bed. Her fingertips were icy-cold as she continued, "Your wolf is wilting. The curse of the Moon Goddess has begun."

I stared up at the ceiling in a daze. A long while later, I asked quietly, "How much longer?"

"If you don't get triggered again, you might live for another three more months," Lucy answered in a low voice that I could barely catch. "However, every time his heart beats for the other Omega when he gets close to her, your wolf will decline even more rapidly.

"Grace, you must leave him."

I had to leave him, huh?

However, it was easier said than done.

I had spent ten years trying to learn that lesson, but I still failed in the end.

"It's too late," I said, hearing my hollow voice as I spoke. "From the moment he turned his back on me at the altar, everything's already too late."

The door to the ward was pushed open just then.

Alonso stood at the door, looking like a terrible mess.

There were dark eye-circles under his eyes, his clothes were disheveled, and there was a light dusting of snow on his clothes and body that hadn't yet melted.

What disappointed me the most was the lingering, cloying scent of Hailey's pheromones on his body that was seemingly declaring ownership of him under my nose.

"Grace…"

He approached me and reached out, wanting to caress my face. However, he froze when he saw the silver patterns on my arms.

"What is this?"

I pulled down my sleeves to cover up the ugly silver patterns. "It's got nothing to do with you."

"How could it not have anything to do with me?" Alonso demanded as he raised his voice at me. "You are my fated mate!"

"I used to be your fated mate," I said, correcting him as I struggled to keep my voice calm. "But from the moment you chose her, I was no longer your fated mate anymore."

Alonso's expression twisted for a second as if someone had just punched him in the face. He inhaled deeply and forced himself and his raging pheromones to calm down.

"I had no choice! She was standing on the cliff, and she was still carrying my pup! That's also another life—"

"It's fake."